Tuesday, November 29, 2011

Hope every one's week is going well. Mine has been filled with decorating for Christmas inside and out. I thought I'd share a few pics from my family room first. I don't go over the top, inside my house, during Christmas (I save that for outside). Ha! I guess, since my house isn't huge, I feel like it gets cluttered very quickly. So, I keep my decorating to a few key areas of the house. One of them is, of course, the fireplace mantel.

This year, I decided to go very neutral. I used a lot of natural decorative elements on the mantel and throughout the house. My color scheme is green, beige, white, silver, chocolate brown and copper. I used a lot of pine cones, feathers and burlap ribbon this year.

I actually had everything already except for the burlap ribbon!

The kids stockings are from Ballard's (where else).

I bought them several years ago and have really enjoyed them.

Because our tree had to go in the front sitting room area, I had to rearrange the furniture a bit. The wing back chair moved in here for now.

I added some burlap ribbon to a pillow in my basket too.

I have this stuff everywhere! It's on my tree and staircase banisters and some wreaths. I'll show you those in another post.

On the chest, I just added a little sparkle with a glass bowl filled with white and silver ornaments.

Sunday, November 27, 2011

Do you recall the post from last week where I painted my armoire grey? Well, you didn't think I'd stop there did you? I decided to add some grey to my clock too. I love touches of grey now.

Here she is........

She used to be cream, but now she's the same color as the armoire (Fawn Brindle) only without the distressing. I decided she was busy enough. She (I deem her to be a girl) has the wood appliques on her, so I decided to paint those white.

I love how she turned out. Now I have a touch of grey in all of my rooms!

I've been busy working on the outside of my home too. I started decorating for Christmas. I have just a few snippets to show you. I will share the whole thing when I'm done.

Here is my wreath on the front door.

Here are some extra large ornaments hanging from my porch.

And finally here is a windowsill all decked out.

I use a lot of color on the outside of my house because I want to be able to see it from the street. I've tried going more neutral, but it just doesn't work as well. I use neutral colors inside.

Hope everyone had a great Thanksgiving and didn't eat too much. I know I did. I'll be spending this week completing my Christmas decorating, as I know all of you will be too. It should be a fun week getting to see what everyone has done so far.

Wednesday, November 23, 2011

Hopefully, you're not tired of seeing this room. I know I have already shown it several times, so I'm not going to go in detail over anything I've already posted. I spent most of my weekend and this week repainting my family room, bead board and trim. I decided to go with the same color that I used in my kitchen and foyer. It is called Linen White by Benjamin Moore. I'm very happy with the results. I also painted my armoire that houses our TV (does anyone still use these anymore?).

That was my 360 degree panoramic tour! Ha!

I painted the armoire to look something like the one on Deserae's blog, Peeking through the Sunflowers. I have always loved her style, but when I saw her painted armoire, I thought I could try that. Her armoire is intricately carved and much more substantial than mine. So, mine isn't in the same league, but I tried her tutorial and came up with this.

It's difficult to get a good picture because of the clouds today. I used Fawn Brindle by Sherwin Williams on it and then dry brushed it with white. I may go over it with a dark wax later. It's a nice touch of grey for my room.

Since my walls were painted white, I decided to paint my urns grey on my mantel.

It's hard to see the color difference in this picture, but trust me.....it's grey!

I have bead board around the perimeter of this room including a hallway that leads to the kitchen.

So, as you can see, I was wearing white paint for several days! Glad that I'm finally finished before Christmas decorating begins. That was my goal.

I hope that everyone has a wonderful Thanksgiving tomorrow and gets some rest before the hustle and bustle of the Christmas season begins!

Sunday, November 20, 2011

I don't have much to share today because I'm in the middle of a large paint project! I can't wait until it is finished because it has created quite a mess in my home. Hopefully it will all be worth it in the end.

Here is a sneak peek:

Not much to look at......yet!

So, to keep you from being completely bored while visiting me, here are a few Thanksgiving "funnies" I thought you might like.

Hope you all are enjoying getting ready for Thanksgiving. It will be here soon!

Thursday, November 17, 2011

I don't believe I've shared my master bedroom with you since I started blogging. So, today is the day! I have more color in my bedroom than in the rest of my house.

Let me just tell you that it was a challenge to get these pics before my dog jumped on the bed and messed it all up! Do you see him waiting on the floor in the lower left corner of the pic? I told him "No". He just kept staring at the bed waiting for the green light to jump up there. Ha!

Next to the bed is an old chest of drawers that I painted several years ago. It makes a great bedside table!

On the other side of the bed is a skirted round table.

I have more feathers in this room too! Ha! They follow me everywhere. The picture in the frame is of my 17 yr old son. This is his casual senior picture taken over the summer. I can't believe he will be graduating from high school next Spring!

On the opposite side of the bedroom is this country french style landscape picture of poppies. It has always been one of my favorite pictures and when I went more neutral downstairs, this went upstairs. I like how the black frame matches the bed and dresser.

Directly across from the bed is our dresser that holds our clothes. We also have a TV on top along with my decorating books. This is a small portion of the books I actually have. Did you know I filled my linen closet with the rest of them? I obviously need more book storage. Ha!

The drapes are a taupe color picked up from the dust ruffle (not visible). I bought them years ago at Bed Bath & Beyond. The matching valance is also hanging in my bathroom over the tub.

In the corner, is a chair that once belonged to my mother. She gave it to me when she got new furniture in her family room. I was all too happy to receive it! It fits perfectly in here and is so comfortable. I love the unique style of it.

My bed is a dreamy king size! I once had a queen size and then after 20+ years of marriage, decided we needed more room. Ha! So now we can all three sleep together. All three? Yes, me, my husband, and our dog!

The monogrammed pillow is from Ballard Designs. Hm mm.....imagine that!

The red ikat pillows are from Pier One and the comforter ensemble is by Chaps purchased from Kohl's.

Now that this little photo shoot is over. Look who couldn't wait to jump up and get comfy in the pillows?

Tuesday, November 15, 2011

This is a continuation of my shopping spree at Ballards Back Room. I showed you my newly created drapes that I made out of a shower curtain, but the other items I bought are being used as they were intended. Imagine that! Ha!

I found this pleated table skirt in a brown checked fabric and used it on the little side table in my sitting room. I know you've probably seen this table a bazillion times. But now it looks completely different. I like this much better.

I think it captures the colors of the room perfectly and it fits the table just right.

I was holding my breath that it would fit because it was non-returnable!

Next, I stumbled upon these unique chandelier shades. They are made of mercury glass. They're heavier than standard shades and fragile. I wasn't sure where I was going to put them. I thought I would use them in my dining room, but they didn't suit the style of my chandelier in there. Drats! They were too dressy for my kitchen and too large for the chandeliers in my family room and sitting room. So, that left my master bedroom. I really like them in there.

Here is a close-up during the day.

This is an antique chandelier that I got several years ago. Unfortunately, one of the bulb sockets doesn't work. It needs to be repaired. So, if you see a light out, you'll know why. It isn't because I forgot to replace the bulb. Ha!

Here it is lit up at night. You can really see how unique the shade looks.

Isn't it pretty? It would look even better if ALL five of my lights worked too!

Here is a full view. Yes......that is Max up on my pillows. I hated to move him because he just looked too comfortable.

Maybe I should just leave the lights off and then you won't notice that it isn't working. Ha!

I guess we're all on the homestretch to Thanksgiving and then we'll be pulling out our Christmas decorations. Are you ready?

I made a pumpkin topiary on my front porch, since I had to move some of the pumpkins off the steps for trick or treaters.

Hard to believe that these will have to be thrown out and replaced with evergreens and baubles soon!

Sunday, November 13, 2011

I went shopping the other day at Ballards Back Room. That is an outlet store for Ballard Designs catalog. I'm fortunate enough to live close to the one in Roswell, GA. They also have one in Atlanta. I was hoping to find some pillow covers that I liked that are no longer sold in their catalog. You may recall my sister getting some from Ballards in this post. I wasn't able to find the pillow covers, but found something better afterall. This is a project involving "thinking outside the box". I resort to this, when I have no other option, and rely on pure willpower and creativity. I am very happy how this project turned out.

These are my new drapes for my family room.

These didn't start out as drapes, but as a shower curtain! You see, a shower curtain is much wider than a curtain panel. So...........I decided to cut it in half to give me 2 panels. However, a shower curtain is also too short. So...............I decided to add some fabric to the end and add trim where the two fabrics meet. I've seen this done on other custom drapes and love the look! Here is a breakdown.

I chose burlap to add to these panels.

Now, that doesn't look too pretty. So I added some trim to give it a finished look.

Ah....much better!

I didn't get a picture of this step, but I also put some cream material behind the burlap so the weight of it would match the upper portion of the panel. Also, I didn't want it to be see-through.

Did I mention that I don't sew? Yep. I did all of this with fabric glue (Fabri-tac). It was easy peasy. I hung the panels on clip rings. I had everything already except for the trim. I love how they turned out.

Here is a close-up of the top of the panel. (It came this way already.)

Here is close-up of the bottom of the panel (that I did).

I like how they look with my new dog portrait over the fireplace too.

So, would you ever guess that used to be a shower curtain? The fabric is the same as any other curtain panel (just in case you were wondering). I love the change.

I found some other great buys there, too, which I'll show you in another post.

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About Me

I live in the south with my husband, two boys, and a spunky Boston Terrier, named Max. I have an affinity for simple country decor that includes white slipcovers, painted furniture, white dishes, and fluffy pillows. Come join me as I find new ways to style my home and share a bit of my family life as well.